Change-gear mechanism.



G. PORN'AA. CHANGE GEAR M'EQHANISM. APPLICATION FILED 1928.17, 1909.

1,051,993. Patented Feb.4,1913.

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G. -PORNAG A. GHANGB GEAR MEGHNISM. APPLIGATIONFILEDFBB.17, 1909. y l1,051,993, Patentd Feb. 4,1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

'fnl Improvements in Change-Gear un rriio sri-tries Parana? onirica.

GUIDO FORNACA, OF TURIN,ITALY, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO F. '1.A. T.,

OF FOUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK,A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

CHANGE-GEAR MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 17, 1909. Serial No. 478,458.

To (LZ1 whom t may concern Be it known that I, GUIDO FonNAcA, a subjectof the King of Italy, residing at Turin, in the Province of Piedmont andKingdom of Italy, have invented certain new and use- Mechanism. whichthe following is a full, clear, and exact specification. l

rl`his invention relates to change gear mechanism forvehicles and hasparticular reference to the construction and arrangement of change gearoperating mechanism used in motor vehicles. A

The invention more particularly has ret'- erence to the construction andarrangement of gear members for effecting the various speeds andreversing the direction of movement of the-vehicle; to the arrangementand construction of the gear sliding rods in the gear casing; and toother advantageous instrumentalities and arrangements'as willappeai'from the description which follows.

A feature of this invention comprises a casing which incloses thechangeable gears and also the rods cooperating with the changeablegears.

An additional feature of the invention embodies a construction in whichthe parts shall be readily accessible without disarrangement, forinspection or repair, and which willpermit the parts to be easily ltakenapart and assembled.

In the aco'nnpanving drawings Figure 1 is a plan vieu of a vehicleembodying the invention; 2 is a detail view of the controlling lever andof the emergency brake lever; Fig. il is a plan view of the gear case.with arts removed to show the changeable gear, gear rods and othercontrolling devices; Fig. l is a detailed plan view of a portion of thereversing gears; Fig. 5 is a detail elevation of a portion of one of thegear operating rods; and Fig. 6 is a vertical section through the blockand front portion of the casingshown in Fig. 3.

The chassis A of the vehicle is' of any aproved constiaiction, and theengine driving the shaft 1 is preferably in the forward end of thevehicle. Shaft 1 enters the forward side of the gear casing "2 througha' suitable bushing, andcarries the sliding gears 3, 4, and 5, drivingsaid sliding gears by means of a spline. Gears 3 and 1 are rigidlyjoined together, and may be provided with a col-v lar,.4. Suitablyspaced fromA shaft 1y and.

Ward each other.

journaled in bushings in gear casing n shaft 7 carrying rigidly mountedgears 18, 6, 8 and 19Min the order na1ned;gear 18 being positioned atthe extreme forward end of shaft 7 and gear 19 at the extreme oppositeend.

Gear 3 when properly manipulated is adapted to mesh with gear 18;similarly, gear il is adapted to mesh With-gear 6, and gear 5 is adaptedto. mesh with gear 8.

.Gear 5 is preferably provided with a collar .3 an'd may be furtherprovided with the clutch element 9, shown in the specific formascircularly spacedlateral teeth, which, when properly manipulated, areadapted to enter -and engage similarly spaced lateral teeth of clutchelement 10. Clutch element 10 is rigidly fixed to the shaft 11, saidshaft being substantially in alinement with the engine, shaft 1, andextends througha suitable bushing in the gear casing-2. The engine shaft1 terminates within and is suitably7 received and journaled in theclutch member 10. Shaft 11 is directly coupled with the driving shaft 12by means of the universal coupling v13. Snitably spaced from shaft 1 isa shaft 14 rigidly mounted at one end in gear casing 2 and supported atthe other end by means of a suitable lug. positioned in the gear casing2. Shaft 111' carries the gears 15, 16, which are rigidly joinedtogether with an intermediate collar 1T. Gears 15 and 16 are so spacedapart that when gear 16 is in mesh with gear 4, gear 15 is in mesh Withgear 18. y

As shown in Fig. 3, When gears +1. 16, 1'5 and 16 are in mesh thereverse movement of the vehicle is provided for. Gear 19 is constantlyin mesh with gear 20, and gear Q0 is rigidly joined with clutch member10 and shaft 11. It is thus clear that the rotation of the engine shafts1 is transferred successively through gears 4. 1G. 15. 18, 19, and 20,and thus imparted to shafts 11 and 19.

-Exterior of casing Q and `rigidly positioned on shaft 11 is the brakedrum 21 slipported by` a spider 22. Surrounding brake drum 21 may bedisposed the friction collar 23, the friction between said drum and saidcollar being controlledby a foot' lever, F, or equivalent device, actingthrough intermediate 4rods by cams '211 abutting the pins 25, therebyovercoming the spring 25 and drawing the ends'of the collar Q3 to-Normally the spring 25' Patented Feb. 4, 1913..

is a

50 end of the lever.

maintains su'liicient separation of the ends of the collar to avoidfriction with the ,drum 21.

Clutch member 1,0 may be provided with a housing 26, which may besupported from the casing 2 by means of arms 27 projecting therefrom.

The gear selecting means, shown specilically as a pick-up rod 28 entersthe casing 2 through a suitable bushing, and eXtends into and throughthe gear casing 2. The pick-up rod 28, in the specific forni shown, maybe a hollow rod, and is provided with an arm 29 carrying a suitablehandle. Arm 29 is adapted to be moved by the driver into the proper slotof a guide plate 30 to obtain the.

desired movement and speed of the vehicle. Guide plate 30 comprisesralongitudinal slot and five short transverse slots, namely 30R,

301, 302, 303 and 304. The selecting means or `pick-up rod 28 isprovided with an arm 31 terminating in a ball end 32, said arm 31 andball end 32 being inclosed in casing 2, preferably near the bottom. Rods34, 35 and 36 may be mounted in casing 2 by means of resilient bushings,which may be of the type disclosed in the Patent No. 891,800, issuedJune 23, 1908. I prefer to mount the bushings o-n one side of rods, 34,35 and 36 in a plug or block P, which may be removably positioned in thewall of the casing 2, as shown in F ig. 6, and thus allow the rods 34,35 and 36 tobe removed from the cas ing without disturbing the gears andselective means. The ends of rods 34, 35 and 36 which extend beyond thecasing may be pro tected by a can, if desired..

The movement of-arm 29 in the longitudinal slot, moves the arm 31 in thegear casing 2 into engagement with one o-r the other of sockets 33 ofthe rods 34, 35, 36. Normally the sockets 33 are in line with thedirection of the longitudinal movement of the pick-up rod 28. Suitablypositioned on rods 34,35 and 3G ai'e forks 37, 38 and 39, re-

speetively, -coperating respectively with the collars 17, 4"and'5. Itwill be seen that by this connection the rods are entirely within thegear box, and immersed in the lubricant therein contained, as is alsothe operating v Referring to Figs. 1 and 3', the first forward speed isattained by manipulating the farm 29 to ent-er the slot 301, by whichmovement the ball end 32 of the arm 31 will engage socket 33 of rod 35and move gears 3 and 4 forward', bringingy gear 3 into mesh with gear18. n The engine shaft l, driving gear 3, will cause gear 18, shaft 7and gear 19, to be revolved, thereby revolving gear 20, shaft 1l,universal 13 and shaft '12, and successively to .the wheels of thevehicle. Similarly, when the handle 29 is moved into slot 302 the ballend 32 will engage .the socket of rod 35, and nieve rod 35backrotateidly and not adect the Ward, bringing gear 4 into mesh withgear 6, and thus provide for the second forward speed.- l/Vhen handlerod 29 is moved into slot 303, the ball end 32 will engage socket 33 ofrod 36, moving the same forward and thus bring gear 5 into mesh withgear 8,: thereby providing for the third forward speed. The fourthforward speed is attained by moving rod.29 into slot 304, causing gear 5to clutch with the clutch member 'l0v and thus the engine shaft is indirect drive with the shaft 11. To attain the rcverse movement the rod29 is moved into the slot 30R as indicated in Fig. 1, when' the gearswill be related as shown in Fig. 3, as described previously in detail.

It will be understood that normally the reverse gears 15 and 16 may ormay not be rotated by gear 4. Such rotation of gears 15 and 16 isimmaterial, since they would rotation of gear 18.

Referring particularly to F l, the vehicle may be provided with a yokey40,hinged at 41, 41, to the chassis allowing the drivingshaft 12 to berocked in a vertical plane without injury to the driving parts. lnaddition, tlie vehicle may be provided with a brake operated lby handle42, actuating the rod 42 and pulley 43, and thus increasing the tensionof the members 44 of the equalizer, or similar braking device. The rod42 is preferably arranged within the'hollow pick-up rod 28.

The casing 2 is provided with a cover 2,

which is removably positioned by thumb screws, o r equivalent means. Bymeans of tli'e cover 2, the changeable vgear and gear rods may bereadily inspected or oiled.

, By the foregoing construction, the assein bling of the complete gearshifting mechanism in one casing provides a much more ac cessible andsimple arrangement than those in common use, and furthermore, thesepartsy are thereby protected from dust and other foreign substances.

The invention is capable of various modifications and changes in theparticular instruincntalities shown and described herein, andis not tobe restricted to the particular arrangement described and illustrated.

Having thus described my invention, l declare that what ll claim as newand desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. The combination of acasing, a driving shaft mounted to extend within said casing,a'plurality of gears thereon, a propeller shaft in alincment with saiddriving shaft, one end of said propeller shaft extending into saidcasing, a gear on said propeller shaft, means for relcasably connectingsaid .driving shaft and said propeller shaft, a

counter-shaft mounted in said casing, gears on said counter-shaftadapted to mesh respectivelywith said gears on said drivingshaft andsaid propeller shaft, a plurality of slidable rods mounted in saidcasing below said driving shaft, said rods having -independent engagingelements and independent forks within said casing for engaging andsliding certain of said gears, and an external manipulating rock shaftextendingl wlthin said casing above said driving shaft, said rook shafthaving a downwardly projecting arm adapted to engageatwill any one ofthe respective engaging ,elements of said slidablerods,

2. The combination of a'casing, a driving shaft extending into saidcasing, a plurality of gears mounted thereon, a propeller -shaft inalinement with said driving shaft, one end .of'said propeller shaftextending into -said casing, a gear and .a clutch element d mounted onsaid propeller shaft, one of said gears on said driving shaft carryingacooperating clutch element, a' counter shaft mounted 1n said casing,gears on said counter-shaft adaptedA to mesh respectively with,

said gears on said driving shaft and said propeller shaft, a pluralityof slidable rods mounted in said casing below saidldrivi'ng shaft, lsaidrods Vhavingindependent engaging elements and independent forks withinthe casing for -sliding certain of said gears, and an externalmanipulating rock shaft extending wit-hin said casing above said drivingshaft, said manipulating rock shaft having a downwardly projecting armadapted to engage at will any one of the respective engaging elements ofsaid engaging elements. A

3. The combination of a casing, a driving shaft mounted to extend withinsaid casing, a plurality of gears thereon, a propeller shaft inalinement with said driving shaft, one end of said propeller shaftmounted in said casing and extending therein, a .spur gear fixed on saidpropeller shaft, a clutch element in stationary relation to said spurgear, one of `said plurality of gears carrying a coperatingclutchelement, a housing for said first-named clutch element supportedby said casing, a counter shaft mounted in said casing, a spur gearmounted on said counter-shaft and adapted to mesh with saidispur gear onsaid'propeller shaft, a spur gear on said counter-shaft, a fixed shaft`below said driving shaft, two interconnected gears loosely mounted onsaid.

fixed shaft, said inter-connected gears being adapted tovbe broughtrespectively into mesh with said second-named spur gear on saidcounter-shaft and one of said plurality of gears, a plurality ofslidable rods mounted in said casing, said rods carryinglforks forsliding certain of said slidable gears, and an external manipulating rodextending within said casing for slidingat willany one of said slidablerods.

4. The combination offa' casing, a shaft mounted in said casing,slidable gears on said shaft, a plurality of fixed gears mounted in saidcasing, and means for sliding said slidable gears into mesh with .saidfixed gears, said means comprising a plurality of slidable rods, meansincluding a removable block for mounting said slidable rods in saidcasing, ,and a manipulating rod extending into said casing and having aprojecting arm adapted to engage at will any one of said slidable rods.

5. The combination of a casing, al plurality of parallel shafts mountedin said cas-V ing, slidable and fixed gears on said shafts, a pluralityof slidable rods parallel to saidl shafts and having individual .meansfor slid-ing said slidable gear into mesh with certain of said fixedgears, said slidable rods fhaving separate engaging means arranged 1n aline transverse to the direction of length of said slidable rods, meansincluding a removable block disposed in a lower portion of saidcasing,-for munting said slidable rodsin the said casing, and amanipulating rod extending into said casing above said shafts "andabove`saidl slidable rods, said manipulating rod having a downwardlyprojecting arm adapted to engage at will any one of'sad engagingelements.

In testimony whereof I alix my signature,

witnesses.

inA presence of two GUIDO FORNAGA-L Witnesses:

J. S. Josnrns, Lmwis ALLAN.

